Player identification number

A player identification number (often referred to as PID) is a unique identification number for player. Upon logging in, a PID is assigned which will randomise every 100 to 150 game ticks, 60 to 90 seconds, for each player. On Bounty Hunter, PvP, and tournament worlds, PID randomises every 40 to 60 game ticks, 24 to 36 seconds, per player.

PID is used to determine the order in which player actions are processed by the game engine. Since actions cannot truly occur simultaneously, the engine resolves them sequentially each game tick, with lower PIDs processed first. This ordering affects many interactions, including dealing damage to monsters or players, picking up items, and other contested actions. Because of this, players with lower PIDs will have priority when multiple actions occur on the same tick.

Examples of PID prioritisation

The following list contains examples of when PID becomes a factor in determining which player has the higher and lower priority:

Determines which player will deal the first hit of damage on a particular monster, getting the monster if in single-way combat, when both players simultaneously attack the same monster.
Determines which player gets skulled or hits first when both players simultaneously attack each other at the beginning of PvP combat.
Determines if a player can walk through a doorway while another player closes it at the same time.
Affects which player gets an item if two or more players pick it up at the same time.

Other orders of priority

Not all in-game events are regulated through PID prioritisation, as there are other systems besides PID that determine the order in which certain actions are processed. NPCs are also accorded an internal identification number, which allows the game to decide which aggressive monster gets to attack a player in a single-way combat zone, for example.^[1] Similarly, this system may determine which NPC will be hit by an ice barrage when more than 9 are caught in the area-of-effect.^[2] There is also an internal ID accorded to players used by the game client to determine who to render when multiple people are standing on the same tile.^[3]

Changes

Date	Changes
9 August 2018 (Update)	On Bounty Hunter, PvP, and tournament worlds, PID will randomise every 40 to 60 game ticks (24 to 36 seconds) per player rather than the previous 100 to 150 game ticks (60 to 90 seconds) per player.
14 April 2016 (Update \| poll)	Priority is now only randomised once every 100 - 150 game ticks (60 - 90 seconds), no longer every game tick. Within the duel arena, the relative priority of players who are fighting each other will not change throughout the duration of a duel.
29 August 2013 (Update)	The game engine no longer prioritises players' actions based on the IP address from which they are logged in.

References

^ Jagex. Mod Ash's Twitter account. 14 May 2021. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Mod Ash: "NPCs would have an internal order for their actions to be processed, like PID, yup. When there are multiple viable targets in their aggression range, the engine's documentation says they pick randomly."
^ Jagex. Mod Ash's Twitter account. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Mod Ash: "[Hi Ash, do you have any insight to what npcs barrage will hit if there is a stack of 10. It doesn't seem to randomise every hit but I don't see a pattern with npc.Index.] The engine doesn't document a priority order for them. It may well turn out to be the NPC equivalent of PID, though for players I believe the spells tend to pick the north/west players slightly more than south/east."
^ Jagex. Mod Ash's Twitter account. 21 February 2023. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Mod Ash: "[When two players (not the currently logged in player) or more stand above each other how does the game determine who to render and who to hide?] The game client has an internal ID for each player too, and prioritises them based on that (unless there's a special override in effect, which we sometimes use). It's distinct from the PID system you're familiar with, since that shuffles periodically."

Mechanics

Engine

Game clients

	Jagex Launcher Desktop Mobile
Third-party	RuneLite HDOS
Discontinued	OSBuddy Konduit Java

Performance

Exploits

Graphics

Servers

Source site	Old School RuneScape Wiki
Canonical source	Player identification number
Content license	CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
License status	declared
Picture	Jagex Launcher icon · file details